The Irish standard., 1887-02-19
MCCARTHY ON HOME RULE.
Continued from first page.)

the great, rich, powerful nation which
could reward man to the very height
of his most ignoble ambition; which
could give him place, money, social
rank-even title-and open career for
him which the widest ambition might
look at with satisfaction. On the other
side was the poor and miserable, strug-
Cling and starving country which could
offer him nothing but simply its conf
dence and its gratitude; it might be a
patriots prison, a PATRIOTS grave. 1t
is easy to understand how between
these two rival influences weak mended
men accepted the bright career which
led to so much which was great and
shrank away from the career which led
to nothing but the confidence and the
gratitude of All impoverished and op-
pressed nation.
''It was not until quite near our own
time that there suddenly sprung up in
the House Of Commons a little group
Of Irishmen who felt inspired by the
conviction that they had found a Dlin~
ciple and policy by which they might
restore the faith Of the Irish people i'll
parliamentary agitation, and bY which
they might do something far more inn
portant than that by which they
might make the parliamentary agita-
ton the sure and certain means OF OBJ
tanning for Ireland her lost, but never
surrendered right to her independent
national legislature, Applause.j This
little body OF men We're only four OK
five in number at first, and not one Of
them had ever played any conspicuous
part in political OF public life before. /
do not know that One was even known
to the other unit! they met i'll Parlia~
ment But they became 1nspiredI
cannot call it anything less than in
spired by he common conviction that
they could win the legislative jndepeu
dence Of ireland i'll the House OF Com
mons. And they started new prin-
ciple and a new policy, which was to
hold absolutely aloof from either OF
the great English parliamentary par
ties-the Liberal and the .Tory--unless
either were to act distinctly for the
cause of Ireland: to hold aloof from
every influence, political or social, which
might even seem to put an Irish men,
Der in the likelihood of being weakened
in his devotion to the Irish cause, and
to recognize 10 authority but the
authority of the Irish people, to defer
to no public opinion but the public
opinion of the Irisll,nen who had sent
them to the House Of Commons to be
their representatives and their spokes-
men.
"We always had in the House of
Commons party under different names
that was struggling for home rule.
There were always some men in the
darkest days of English Parliamentary
affairs who kept that little lamp Of
Irish liberty burning for the guidance
Of the nation; but in recent years we
had not pursued very active policy.
What home rule party it was! Once
In every sesslon--every twelve mouths
the leader pressed forward motion
in favor Of home rule; it was discussed
during a night or two, and some elo-
quent speeches were made; and then
the English Prime Minister. whoever
he happened to be. got up and declared
that, under nc conceivable conditions,
could the English Parliament tolerate
anv suggestion about home rule for Ire
land; aud then a division was taken,
and the motion was outruled by forty
or. fifty to one, and the question was
allowed to fall asleep for another year.
We have great many annual cereLnon~
ials in the House Of Commons, and
they become to regard this Irish home
rule defeat Just as one of the necessary
ceremonies to take up little time and
not do anybody any harm, and to be
endured and submitted to. And as
for the English public out of doors,
they not only we're not impressed, but
for The most part they never heard OF
this annual home rule ceremonial or
pageant IN the House Of Commons.
They did not hardly even know that
there was an Irish Home Rnle party
there; they certainly did not know that
there was any serious demand for home
rule amongst the majority Of the Irish
people.
"Our new political party resolved
upon another plan of action, They
wanted above all things to arouse the
attention of the English, Scotch, and
Welsh public, and of the civilized peo-
pie all over the world-to get a hearing
for Irish cause not alone from the
House of Commons, but from all the
world, and their plan of action was to
convert the House of Commons, that
central platform to which all English
men look, into a platform for the per
petual discussion of the Irish question
until they had aroused the reason and
the conscience Of the whole English
and the whole English speaking COM
nonnitv RI listen In the Justice of her